The Bloody Swords (Campaign Log)

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Zagig Pie (10/24/02 1:39 am) Reply	The Bloody Swords (Campaign Log) I would like to start this as a campaign log of our adventures in the RttToEE, at least from the point we are at on. First, the bad news. I sit here at my computer wondering if the situation that occurred tonight could have been avoided. Unfortunately, I can't think of anyhting. Perhaps I had better explain. Based on Andorax's campaign log, I decided that his idea of giving new characters a background with adventures and, therefore, a treasure list to pick from was a good one. I told my party two weeks ago, when we last played, that I would probably be introducing the two new characters with this method. Last Thursday, I phoned both the players and informed them that I had the list made up. I e-mailed the list (completed with Andorax's help) to each of them on Monday and told them to get together a couple of hours before game-time on Wednesday to divide the list. When I got to the game tonight, I found out that one of the players, a guy who always min/maxes his characters, had not done this because "I already had my euqipment picked out." I told this player that I had spent much time on preparing the adventures and making the list. I also told him that if he did not like this method he had plenty of opportunity to phone me (didn't have my number, couldn't get hold of mutual friends, does not want to talk to anyone where I work were the excuses he used) or e-mail me so we could talk about this. I think that he hoped I would just give up and let him have the equipment he bought using the DMG and max half for his level on magic. The other three players told me that I remained very calm, but I know that I was quite angry and upset at the player. I told the player that he could either play his character with equipment using this system or make a new character to take advantage of the useful magic items on the list. He, without saying a word to anyone, cleaned up his stuff, ripped his character into shreds, and left. I am not sure if he will ever be back, but the other players have told me that they don't care. This is not a problem in game as I think that any one or all three of the remaining players can play two characters. And, before you ask, no there is not that many gamers around here and I'm not sure that, after this experience, I would want to have a player that I don't already know. I'm not sure if I could have done anything to avoid this conflict, but I feel like I should have. The reason this explanation is so long is so that I don't have to answer too many questions about it. Now that that's done, on to what happened in the game. Party Members Darla - female human Ftr5/Rog3 - played by a guy who is pretty much the take charge guy, however he's also a smart alec so a serious game is sometimes next to impossible, my brother. Pelizar the Purple - male tiefling Wiz7 - excellent roleplayer, his half-brother died fighting Vranthis and then went on to the Astral Plane (dumped the body in portable hole with bags of holding on him), believes that his half-brother may someday return Muristan - human Pal2/Ftr1/Cle5 - also an excellent roleplayer, aiming for Comtemplative PrC, new character Mayan - NPC male dwarf Ftr8 - added on the fly when fourth player left Note: The Notes in bold are going to be the questions I kinda need answers to. Since we only have three players right now, we are considering each player having two characters. Someone in the party always seems to get killed with four party members, and with four PCs and three NPCS, the Fire Bridge still killed three of them (although the party had practically no spells left). I don't have a problem with six characters as the experience will even out. I am worried about the time involved in each player having two characters to run, though. Does anyone have any suggestions, ideas, or advice? The party meets in Verbobonc because Darla wanted to go there to find two new party members (the last two died fighting the Fire Bridge). While there, Pelizar creates eight fireball arrows. These are normal arrows that explode in a fireball when broken. I ruled that creating fifty of these would cost the same as creating a fifty-charge wand of fireballs with the added expense of 50 masterwork arrows. If they hit their target, they break automatically but if they miss, there is a 50-50 chance that they will break. I used to DM liscence to decide that the trip back to Rastor was uneventful because I wanted to get moving, although i should have rolled for random encounters. Note: The DMG suggests rolling for random encounters every hour but I find that random encounters happen too often that way. I have done it every six hours for some time now but does anyone have a better suggestion? In Rastor, Pel and Darla recovered the translation of the Dwarven History from Rerrid Hammersong (they had asked him to translate the text just before leaving for Verbobonc). They picked up on a couple of things in the handout (found at the Yahoo site). Rastor Hammersong I ruled was Rerrid's grandfather. Part of the message speaks of "...his tomb has been sealed and protected. Imagine our enemies fear if he were with us now with his fair elven maid." Note: Does anyone know to whom this refers? Darla asked Rerrid to hold on to the summary as the party has lost every written piece of information that they have come across through party death or disappearance (see the reference to Pel's half-brother). Pel stayed with Rerrid for most of the night, probably trying to make up for threatening to raze the town when he got angry at someome a few weeks earlier. Meanwhile, in the inn, Muristan and Mayan were approached by Tal, whom they don't know. He offered to help them around the town whenever they need it. He also offered a special strength potion, the first taste for free. Both Muristan and Mayan turned the offer down but Tal told them to come see him if they changed their mind. Probably they won't since Pel and Darla don't trust him and, after being told what happened, have told Muristan and Mayan so. Edit: forgot to mention that Muristan detected dim evil on Tal but also on four other people in the inn. Muristan assumed that Tal was just a merchant trying to make an easy deal. Early the next morning the party left for the CRM, leaving their two wagons and horses at the inn (Tal might do something with this but I'm not sure what yet). Leaving the rest of the party well back, Darla snuck up to the Main Gate, peeked in the arrowslits (no one there), peeked in the door (dark, trolls have darkvision!!), then threw the doors wide open and waited for everyone to catch up. As the rest of the party caught up, the two trolls in 2 heard them and one came out to check what was happening (2 characters in full plate make a lot of noise). When Darla was asked "Who are you?" and answered "WHO ARE YOU!?", the troll signaled his partner who rang the bell. Combat was pretty straightforward for a while with Pel making use of one of his fireball arrows, Mayan avoiding almost every hit (+4 AC vs. giants!!), and Muristan and Darla getting hit almost every round. Somewhere in there one badly injured troll ran south to the Fire Bridge, and Snearak, also badly injured, ran north. Then the combat got interesting. Pel used gaseous cloud to pass through the combat to a point where Snearak was standing before he fled. Then he reformed, used his Hat of Disguise to appear as "the troglodyte cleric" and ordered "his" troops to retreat. I ruled a Bluff vs. Sense Motive for the trolls to believe him. His total...5. Easy, right. Two of the trolls failed!!! One died but Pel was able to draw the other away until most trolls were dead. The combat ended with Darla hacking at fallen troll bodies to make sure they stayed down while the others took out the trolls still on their feet. The party decided to rest. Travel time to CRM is one hour. The left Rastor at 8 am. So it's only 9 am. They have to wait until 8 am the following day before getting going again! They barricade the door to the common area. Two random encounters over the next day. A fire salamander came to visit. They convinced him that they were the recipients, got the message and he left. A band of warriors came in the gate (which they left wide open) with a cart of supplies. The party tried to convince the warriors that they, the party, were agents of Naquent, whose name they had seen on a couple of notes. It was all going fine until they referred to Naquent as a "he." Comment heard immediately after the warriors attacked, "Note to self. Nauqent is a female!" They were able to defeat the warriors easily. Not surprisingly, they captured 2 of them alive and locked them, tied up, in two separate rooms off the common room. One of them woke up and tried to kill himself by running into the fire but Muristan dragged him out and threw him against the wall, knocking him out again. The warrior had just re-awoken when our game session ended. Note: I had assumed that the warriors came from the South Gate with supplies for the Main Gate, but does anyone have any ideas for these guys when they get questioned? Thanks to Andorax and Siobharek for help before this gaming session. Zag ig Edit: minor grammar errors. Edited by: Zagig at: 12/14/02 2:50:44 pm
madfox Orc (10/24/02 1:46 am) Reply	Re: Zagig's Funhouse (Campaign Log) *Quote:* This is not a problem in game as I think that any one or all three of the remaining players can play two characters. And, before you ask, no there is not that many gamers around here and I'm not sure that, after this experience, I would want to have a player that I don't already know. I'm not sure if I could have done anything to avoid this conflict, but I feel like I should have. The reason this explanation is so long is so that I don't have to answer too many questions about it. Now that that's done, on to what happened in the game. Sounds to me like you dealt quite fairly with him. Just don't let a bad experience prefent you from accepting new players. Learn from it and when you do accept another player do it one a trial basis first. I have met some bad players, but I also met some great players.
Siobharek Orc (10/24/02 3:20 am) Reply	Re: Zagig's Funhouse (Campaign Log) Your player was in the wrong, and you were in the right. He was a jerk. End of story. Kudos for remaining calm. It'll give you lots of cred with your players. As to random encounters: Every 6 hours, at most! Says so in the adventure, and I wouldn't change it. In fact, if I may give you a piece of advice, avoid random encounters unless there's a purpose behind them - there's plenty of hack'n'slash in the module as is. The 2 PCs per player seems to be unavoidable at this point. Maybe you could emphasize the roleplaying aspect of the adventure. Also, two characters will reduce the risk of a TPK due to player exhaustion (you'll need to stay more focused when there's only a few players). Otherwise it sounds great, and as madfox says, don't let the player get you down. Siobharek ...it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.
Grumgarr Pie (10/24/02 4:53 am) Reply	Re: Zagig's Funhouse (Campaign Log) More DM support Yeah. You handled the disagrement with your player well - if he wasn't willing to compromise to get on with enjoying the game he sounds pretty immature. If so, you're almost certainly better off without him. Sounds like he won't be missed. Stuff comes up once in a while in the game which can cause bad feeling when a player doesn't get their own way, but as DM you've got to have the final say on what's on and what's not for your game, and 'caving' just to avoid confrontation is a poor solution in the long term. As DM your primary responsibility (IMO) is to make the game fun, for everyone - which includes you. Bossy, difficult or 'spoiled' players are not fun. Your game will only improve for the loss of someone who's upsetting you or other players, even if you are a player 'short' for a while (and I agree that you shouldn't let one bad experience sour your attitude to new players). I recently lost a long-term player due to 'bad feeling' stuff - the atmosphere at our game has improved vastly...better to lose the player early than late Grumgarr
Zagig Pie (10/31/02 4:47 pm) Reply	Diablo Delvers Lots of stuff happened last night. I will try to recap. New characters: Torg - male dwarf Ftr2/Wiz4/Spellsword2 -as you'll soon see, two wizards in the party is deadly Elvewyn Latonessa - male elf Rgr3/Wiz1/Ftr2/DeepwoodSniper1/ArcaneArcher1 ( AAAH!!) - bow specialist (no duh!) Jerrick Klensbannald - male human Ftr6/WeaponMaster2 - soldier The party questions one of the soldeirs they have captured. He's screaming and hollaring, afraid for his life. He asks to be let go or he will be sacrificed on one of the altars. Muristan agrees to let him go if he answers questions. While sobbing and crying, the soldier tells them that his contact in Rastor is the same guy that talked to Muristan in the inn (Tal). Since Muristan thinks this is the only thing that the soldier knows, he lets him go. (visual: DMs hand smacks forehead). They tie up and gag the other soldier, intending to take him into Rastor the next morning. In the middle of the night, everyone wakes up when something weird happens. For about half a second, all four elements suddenly change. Air and fire disappear, earth turns black with writhing shapes (think the outside walls of the ToEE), and water feels like its flooding the room. The party thinks this is very important (it is!!) but don't know how (hello, divinations spells!!! ). The next morning the party takes the soldier to Rastor in the cart that the soldiers had brought with food for the Main Gate and Earth Temple. They meet the other three party members on the way and, after a short conversation, agree to join forces. They have to knock the soldier unconscious a few times on the way. At the Temple of Moradin, Muristan takes the guy inside so Rerrid can hear what he has to say. Of course, half a dozen villagers see this and soon rumours are flying all over town. Everyone except Elevowyn and Jerrick follow Muristan inside. After he hears the party's story, Rerrid sends Darla for Jardeth and has Muristan take the still unconscious soldier down to one of the penitent's cells. When Jardeth arrives, Muristan wakes the soldier up. The soldier tells of Tal being his contact, taking the occasional traveller to be sacrificed, and, after Muristan decides to execute him for this, the South Gate (party ). Rerrid says that many people trade with the soldiers from the mines so Tal is not necissarily guilty of anything. After checking to make sure that the soldier will not atone, Muristan takes the soldier outside town, beheads him, and buries him. While he is doing this Pelizar (who is really mad at Tal and, I think, wants to kill him) goes to Tal's and sits across the road. Jerrick follows Pelizar and watches to make sure he doesn't do something stupid. Elvowyn takes the cart of food to the inn, where it is given freely to the village (it was bought in the village anyway). Muristan, Rerrid, Jardeth, and Darla go to question Tal. Pelizar goes in with them. Tal is not intimidated, answers a few questions, and trades insults with Pelizar. For 100 gp, Tal promises not to deal with anyone from the mines for a month. Of course, he has no intention of honouring this deal. They leave but Jardeth promises to keep an eye on Tal. The players spend the rest of the day in Rastor. Elvowyn scouts the road to the Main Gate and finds, about halfway along, an illusion covering a second road. Using his Wilderness Lore and Track, he notices that the South Gate road is more used than the Main Gate. He follows this until he sees that it goes into a cave and then returns to town. Darla makes sure to get a room at the inn that has a view of Tal's outpost and it's wagons. That night, after the village is all asleep, she puts fire arrows into each wagon, setting them on fire. The entire village is awakened shortly after this to the shouts of "Fire! Fire!". Muristan happens to have create water prepared and douses two of the wagons. The other two are put out but are mostly ash by that time. The next morning, Jardeth comes to see the party at the inn. He tells them that he was able to find the heads of two hand crossbow bolts in the fire (they might have been too warped to id if the fire hadn't been put out so fast). Since Darla is the only person in town who has hand crossbows, she is the main suspect. Darla goes to Jardeth's office. After a few questions, with Darla denying any involvement, Jardeth gets Rerrid. Rerrid casts zone of truth but Darla makes her save so lies and says she wasn't involved. Jardeth lets her go but I doubt he'll trust her ever again, and by extension the rest of the party also. The party heads up to the mines, with the now empty cart. Elvowyn shows them the hidden path to the South Gate and tells then that it is more used than the Main Gate. They decide that the Main Gate is still the best entry point as it is cleared out and Darla and Pelizar have two companions to rescue at the Fire Bridge. At the Main Gate, they leave the cart at the main gate and head down toward the Fire Bridge, intending to deal with them once and for all. With one guy in full plate, they don't even bother being quiet. A few changes I have made: The orcs to the south have been wiped out and a troll tribe has moved in. Therefore, the gong has been moved to room 37. I have equpped the forces with the equpment of two dead characters. The treasure from the cave of the old umber hulk has been taken by D'Gran, since the party hasn't been there yet, and may never do so. When the party enters room 37, Slazzh hits the gong with his sword, alerting the rest of the complex to intruders. The party also sees that the spear with the umber hulk skull has been replaced with two spears with the heads of the two dead adventures (the former companions of Pelizar and Darla). With 6 PCs, Slazzh doesn't last long, but he does manage to escape. The party chases after him, only to see two dinosaurs coming at them. This is where it gets nasty. Because of an overabundance of wizards (two or three fireballs and two lightning bolts to name a few spells), and lots of critical hits (I had my turn with these the last two gaming sessions), the entire complex does not last long. They all die in the hallway leading to room 37. D'Gran is put down in one round by Elvowyn (two critical hits). I did not play this as well as I could have, perhaps being a bit overconfident. Oh, well it's not finished yet. The end of the battle is goiing to cause some severe party dissenssion, however. There were three gnolls left. They throw their weapns on the ground and offer to surrender (IMC, by general agreement, anyone that does not throw their weapon down is not surrendering). Muristan tells them to lie on the ground. They would have done this except Darla decides to kill them anyway. She kills one and the rest are killed as they are running away (wouldn't you!!). Muristan throws his hands up in frustration and walks away. He knows that once they run they have to be killed but they shouldn't have to run in the first place. You tell this did not sit well with anyone since the entire room got very quiet at this point. The party checks bodies to see if anyone is still alive (I run all NPCs to -10 hps). D'Gran, of course, is. They stab him and number of times with different weapons but he's still alive. Pelizar casts fire orbs and acid orbs on him, doing no damage. This is very frustrating to them (and very funny to me). With his only sonic spell, sonic orb, Pelizar finally does some damage. Torg pumps a couple magic missiles into him but it's not enough to kill him. Darla suggests cutting off his head but Muristan says that they would have to keep hitting his neck to prevent regeneration. They come up with the following plan: Two people on watch at all times, one person to watch, one person to stab D'Gran every other round. In the morning, when Pelizar has more sonic spells, they can kill him. Also, they are going to strip the bodies of EVERY piece of valuable equipment including the MW armor and weapons and take it to the cart at the main gate. Muristan and Pelizar have already said that under no conditions will they return to Verbobonc at this time. Darla may want to and this could split the party for a time. Next game session is not for three weeks. At that time, the party will probably be attacked in the middle of the night by the trolls (if they ignore D'Gran during this, he may yet regen enough to wake up and get away). If they return to the main gate, they will probably find that the cart is gone (Tal needed it to keep supplying the mines). When they return to Rastor, they will find that no one trusts them anymore, including Rerrid whom they had finally built a trust with. Also, if they return to Rastor, they will probably pass another adventuring company on the road. Hopefully, a little competition will spur them on. Comments, suggestions? Zag ig Edited by: Zagig at: 10/31/02 5:59:52 pm
Siobharek Orc (11/1/02 12:08 am) Reply	Re: Diablo Delvers Hmm... Darla's actions seem strange. That killing the gnolls, is there a character background reason for this. She's IMHO treading a fine line here, but it depends on campaign norms. Other than that, I don't think it hurts any that the party has a bit of success - it'll change soon enough. If they go to Verbobonc, hit them on the way there. Maybe a bunch of Spider Eater Riders spot them and decide to rob them. They'll die, of course (two mages, the archer and all), but then the SER's will be out for them. And then maybe you could go for politics in Verbobonc... Siobharek ...it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.
Infiniti2000 Pie (11/1/02 10:57 am) Reply	Re: Diablo Delvers "Darla suggests cutting off his head but Muristan says that they would have to keep hitting his neck to prevent regeneration." So close and yet so far! Muristan is going to kick himself later when he finds out that this would've worked if kept apart for ten minutes.
Abelard Orc (11/1/02 11:55 am) Reply	Re: Diablo Delvers By the way, sonic shouldn't deal real damage to D'Gran, unless you've house ruled that. Only fire and acid do, which is why with the half-fiend resistances he's harder to kill than Steven Segal. Also, don't forget about his Spell Resistance! Even if you have decided to let sonic do real damage, he still should have a good chance of resisting each orb...
Zagig Pie (11/1/02 11:01 pm) Reply	Re: Diablo Delvers Darla's actions were out of the norm. The huge s__t-eating grin she had while killing the gnoll and burning the wagons makes me think that she did it just to p__s someone off. Muristan/Elvowyn's player and Pelizar/Jerrick's player are talking about leaving Darla behind. I like the idea with the SERs. The party has not had a real good enemy in a while. I don't want to add to much to Verbobonc as this could distract from the real mission. Infiniti, it was hard for me to keep a straight face while they were talking about cutting his head off. They were all looking at me for a reaction, too. Thanks for the reminder, Ableard. The party has been informed that, so far, they have only done subdual damage to him. I think that D'Gran might escape!!! BTW, Siobharek, I mentioned to my party about something that your group does (light warhorses 4 days to Verbobonc). They never thought of this and are now seriously considering using light horses for personal trips and getting others to haul the wagon. Thanks!! Zag ig
Zagig Pie (11/22/02 4:40 am) Reply	Who prepares THESE spells!!?? Okay, we start this session with the party collecting treasure and trying to decide what to do with D'Gran. After some discussion, they decide that, since they can't seem to kill him, they will strip him and leave him. They take only what they can carry and return to Rastor. In Rastor, Muristan visits Rerrid to see if he knows anything about outsiders and if he can identify D'Gran. Rerrid, of course, knows nothing. He tells Muristan that a sage or wizard type is in the inn, having arrived late that morning (this was my way of introducing a new PC to the party). Before Muristan leaves, Rerrid adds two things. First, after consulting among town elders, Jardeth (the constable) is investigating Tal and, if he finds anything, the party will be consulted before any moves are made (this means that Deepdark knows of the investigation and Tal will know before long ), . Second, he makes sure that the party has not forgot to tell him of anything dwarven that they find. Pelizar decides to talk with Tymerian and try to buy a scroll of identify from her. She tells him that she does not have one ready but, if he comes back in a couple of days, she will have one ready. Pelizar, after muttering something under his breath, leaves disappointed that he won't be able to identify any treasure tonight (I think that he'll find an identify spell in the wizard's quarters in the Fire Bridge next week, hehe ). The remainder of the party takes the treasure to the two wagons in the stableyard of the inn. Both wagons are well protected (from honest people, anyway) so they don't seem worried about leaving them there (wait until Tal gets into them later ). Then they head into the Gray Lodge for a little R&R before heading back into the CRM in the morning (I made the CRM an hour's journey away so, now that they trust Rastor a little, this has become common practice). When they enter the inn, a few familiar faces are there. Pelizar sees his brother Berhagen (I stole this name from these boards), a tiefling like himself. I don't need to recount what happened here, as it is a subplot for Pelizar's character, except that Berhagen agreed to look for info on outsiders like D'Grjan. Also, Darla sees a former party member, Lucas. Lucas perished at the claws of two displacer beasts (random encounter), was later raised but decided to retire from adventuring in Verbobonc. Darla sits with Lucas, who tells her that he is there at the request of Burne. Since Burne has heard next to nothing since the party left Hommlet (they became good friends with Burne while there), he was getting a little worried. Darla tells Lucas everything that has happened since then (whih is a lot) and then asks if he can find out information about outsiders like D'Gran.. Lucas says he will try and will ask Burne as well in return for a favor. That favor is to stop in and see him in Verbobonc whenever she is there so that he and Burne can find out how things are going. Darla then introduces Lucas to the rest of the party and he visits with them for the rest of the day, leaving the next morning. Muristan sees the sage/wizard type but waits until after lunch to talk with him. Unfortunately, the character, Vall, cannot help him. Muristan thanks him and returns to the group. Jardeth enters the inn later that afternoon and comes to talk to Darla. He is not pleased to see her since he suspects her of burning Tal's wagons (see last game session). He tells her that he is watching her so she better not do anything (I play Rastor and it's inhabitants like an old west frontier town), and then leaves. Now came decision time. Lately, we have had two characters for each player since we only had three players. With the new player, I didn't want to have seven PCs in the group but left the final decision up to the group. They decided to retire two characters, Muristan and Torg. Pelizar and Jerrick, both played by the same player, stayed since the group felt that someone in the party always seems to die with four characters. Then came time to identify treasue by trial and error. They dumped all the magical treasure from the Fire Bridge battle on a table in the inn. The innkeeper kinda freaked out, thinking that his inn was goinig to get burned down. The party promised to pay for any damage so the innkeeper let it go. They managed to some of the items belonging to the two characters that died fighting the Fire Bridge. The best was when they tried out the wand of shatter that Heunar used to have. Pelizar spoke the command word and shattered every glass within reach as well as six potions (ouch!! ). Needless to say, everyone else was very annoyed and told him, in no uncertain terms that, next time, he better do his experimenting away from everyone. Vall joined the group by watching the treasure identifying session and, when the party talked about going back to the CRM the next day, asked if he could come along. Next morning, they headed out to the main gate and, from there, south to the Fire Bridge. Of course, D'Gran had since recovered and organized the forces from the orc caves (see my post "Replacing orcs near fire bridge with trolls" for how this happened) so they were a little preapred. D'Gran himself had no armor or weapon but he did have all his magical abilities, so he was still formidable. One of the worgs was waiting near the Main Gate (with one character in full plate they make a lot of noise) and was able to warn D'Gran of the approaching party. The two worgs, two ogres, and two trolls were in the hallway to 38 (I switched the secret door and normal door around) since D'Gran did not know that the party knew of the secret door. The rest were waiting in the first hallway beside 40. The party, of course decided to go through the secret door. The combat went very well. The ogres were able to hit the front line guys for some significant damage. Grahk, the troll shaman, Hefikh, the ogre shaman, Argtha, the ogre barbarian, and D'Gran were all invisible at first. Hefikh used a ghost sound spell to simulate a squad of fighter coming but no one in the party cared. Argtha appeared when she attacked early on but the others remained invisible for a long time with Grahk appeared near the end to attack and Hefikh to heal. Grahk surprised everyone with a burning hands spell ("A troll that casts burning hands!! It doesn't make sense. Why would a creature who can be hurt by fire ally itself with fire?" ) D'Gran was able to turn Hefikh invisible again but not Grakh (this will become important later). The party used mostly melee and ranged weapons but a lot of spells were also used. The new PC did very well with his spells, considering that he was new (new character, new player, first time playing in 10 years). He used flaming sphere very well. The party had backed up towards 37 leaving the two ogres and two trolls in the hallway to 38. Vall placed the flaming sphere right beside the secret door so that the trolls and ogres had to jump through the fire to get to the fight. Eventually, they did but it took them out of the firght for a couple of rounds. One of the best parts came at the end (but only because I misplayed D'Gran). D'Gran, still invisible, turned himself gaseous and attempted to move to the back of the party to attack the wizards. Unfortunately, Pelizar had heard him casting invisible on Hefikh and gaseous cloud on himself, although Pelizar assumed it was Hefikh with the gaseous cloud. Pelizar then cast see invisible (who takes see invisible? Aaah!!) and could see the invisible gaseous cloud. He attacks once but doesn't hurt it. Everyone thinks that maybe he's attacking something invisible but they are not sure. D'Gran then settles himself on Vall, who is behind Pelizar. Pelizar attacks him, hitting again but coming close to Vall. Jerrick, seeing this asks Pelizar what the heck he is doing. Pelizar gets out two words...gaseous cloud (I gave him a free action of two to three words even though it wasn't his turn in initiative). Vall decides to try an area dispel (he's doing things no one else in the party has ever done in this adventure!! ) and manages to dispel the invisibility but not the gaseous form. D'gran drops the gaseous cloud and tries to fly away but he doesn't get far enough. Elvowyn and Darla use their bows to take D'Gran down with subdual damage. Vall cries out with frustration. He was about to try a differrent spell, phantasmal killer. The party decides to tie him up (wings, feet, and hands) and drop him in the corner and wait for him to wake up. When D'Gran wakes up, Vall casts the spell. Watch out for this spell. It is nasty. If the creature fails its SR (if it gets it), it has to make a will save to recognize that the phantasm is not real. If it fails, it has to make a Fort save or die. Even if it makes the Fort save, it takes 3d6 damage. The group is already talking about using it on a regular basis. Vall rolls a 14 (he's level 8 ) to beat the SR. D'Gran rolls a 4 and a 3 for his saves. He gives a scream and dies. However, the party has forgotten about Hefikh, the ogre shaman. He is currently hiding in the Fire Bridge complex, still invisible. Once the party starts searching, or rests, he is probably going to try to escape the CRM, never to return again. That is where we ended. The battle was a little harder than the last battle. But, since the last battle wasn't as hard as it should have been, I think it balances out. It's too bad I misplayed d'Gran. I had thought of him using gaseous cloud to attack the rear but, in the heat of battle, forgot until too late. Also, I was pleased with my DMing. A number of rules questions came up but I tried to make a ruling on the spot and either look it up later or get a player to look it up while we continued (this is something I sometimes have trouble doing). Two last things: 1)after reading PrinceLorrin's log, I asked if anyone would write a log for extra experience. Pelizar, who needs more experience for scrolls, said he would. Has anyone else done this? 2) If I write up a log of what has happened before (in Hommlet & Nulb & Old Temple & first couple trips to CRM) would anyone be interested? It's a LOT of work. Next week, exploring (aka looting) the Fire Bridge. Zag ig Edited by: Zagig at: 11/22/02 6:40:38 am
Ssendam Pie (11/22/02 5:17 am) Reply	Re: Zagig's Funhouse (Campaign Log) I'm late getting in on this thread, but I just wanted to say that there is no way you should feel guilty at all for what you did, Zagig. You did the righ thing. Every so often, there will be a clash between players and the DM. It'd be nice if we lived in a perfect world where this never happens, but that isn't how it is. I DM quite a bit and I have more than my fair share of arguements with players, most of who are and have been gaming partners and friends of mine for years. I have one friend in particular that sounds a bit like this person who was a disruption your campaign. This friend of mine loves to undermine the authority of the DM and often becomes childish when he does not get his way. More than once he has left our gaming group (stomping off and pouting like a child), not to return for a long period of time, but he always come back. I tip my hat to you for taking control of your campaign and refusing to let some player get his way simply because he felt like it was his right and you had no business making him adhere to the rules that you set in place. I am also glad to see that you did not let it affect your campaign in an adverse way. I too would have simply let the three players play 2 characters apiece. IMO, 6 characters is a perfect number. I am really not sure what Monte had in mind when he designed this module for only 4 characters. 4 characters leaves absolutely no room for error by the players, IMO. Anyway, kudos to you, Zag and good luck with the campaign the rest of the way!
Infiniti2000 Pie (11/22/02 10:08 am) Reply ezSupporter	Re: Who prepares THESE spells!!?? First, congratulations on a job well done to the new player! Give him some virtual XP for me. I'm glad the battle worked out well, it seems like it was a lot of fun. 1. I don't give out extra XP, but I think it's a good idea. I write the logs myself, send them around to the players for revisions (minus the DM Note parts and some other nonplayer info), and then post the final edited versions. 2. I know I speak for others as well, so we'd definitely be interested. On the other hand, make sure you concentrate on the current campaign and don't let it suffer. Perhaps just a brief "interlude" to the past (a few paragraphs)?
Zagig Pie (11/28/02 4:43 am) Reply	Oogi Boogi Woka Woka ??!! This game session started out really fun, but ended kind of slow. I better stat out the new player first. Vall Woodshadow - elf wizard 8 (a somewhat complicated class for a newbie) Also, they came up with a name for the party...The Bloody Swords (theirs or ours!!). The party started with collecting and detecting magic on all the items from the bodies. I forgot that the party had a CLW wand so I gave them another one (minimum healing, though). Seeing as they no longer have a cleric, perhaps this will turn out to be a good thing anyway. They then began the task of searching the, now empty (although they don't know this), Fire Bridge Complex. One of the things I was able to impress upon some of them was the eerieness of exploring an empty complex with any sounds they made echoing throughout. Got this one from the boards, so thanks. First, the troll's room (38 ). Found and easily disarmed the trapped chest. The best party was the 15 minute discussion about the map (found it at the yahoo group); about where they were, where the roads went to, etc. Hard not to laugh. Then, the deionychus' room (39). Darla dropped the portcullis, just after telling everyone to be quiet as someone might hear them . The echoing ring made everyone cringe. They spent about 15 minutes in the wizrd's room (40). This was the funniest party of the whole night: Pelizar was trying to read the sigils scrawled on the walls and ceiling. He rolled his Knowledge (arcana) getting a 22 and 25, then taking 20 to get 35. I told him the first two times that the writing was gibberish (meaning that it was meaningless, not that he couldn't read it). Finally, I said "LOOK!! It says "Oogi boogi woka woka." He finally got the point. However, I am sure to hear those words again, I'm sure. Then Pelizar managed to set off one of the explosive runes (by trying to read the spellbook), catching himself, Vall and Darla in the blast. He wisely decided to store the other book until he could deactivate any traps on it. Hardly any comment on the history of the Temple of Elemental Evil book ( $:\$ ). When they found the armory and storeroom (41 and 42) they took what food they could and burned or broke everything else. Seemed kinda pointless to me at the time, but now I realize it was a good idea to deny any new enemies these resources. D'Gran's quarters (43) were really basic. Search, loot, move on. The throne room was of some interest but sill same SOP (search, loot, a little discussion, move on). Sometimes these guys surprise me. It took them about two seconds to realize what the iron balls were for. Descritad was already dead, having died in the month since the first time the party met D'Gran. I was hoping someone would check the body, thereby forcing a heal check to notice how long she had been dead. This would have, hopefully, impressed the need upon them to not leave for so long. Oh well, a good idea wasted. Through the human guardroom (45) to the bridge. Saw a couple SERs. Theory at this point is that fire, earth, and air are in the CRM, the bridges lead to water (no fourth bridge). Elvowyn kept saying that the lake itself was the water bridge (again no smiling by DM). Move on, vehemently not crossing bridge. The gnoll barracks was interesting for the mural on the wall (warriors charging out of EEE symbol). Darla scratched it up with her dagger, just in case it was some kind of magic portal or something. Also found the water temple tile and figured it belonged to a spy (again, surprised they figured this out) and the tile was either a communication device or a passcode of some type. Hopefully, they remember this later at the water temple. Next few areas (food storage 48, giant lair 49, gnoll barracks 50, gnoll guards 51) are SOP (search, loot, move on). When they opened the door to the orc caves and saw natural caverns and not worked stone, they decided to stop. After a brief discussion, they took the body of Descritad and their treasure to Rastor, talking about turning around when they come back and going north. They figure this is a good idea since they think the CRM is a giant ring (more smart ideas). In Rastor, they leave Descritad to be buryed by Rerrid. Pelizar goes to talk to Tymerian (more on that in a minute). Elvowyn questions a ranger in town about the troll map finding out the trolls have not been there for a few weeks so there seems no point in going to check it out. The ranger also tells him how many trolls there were and Elvowyn correctly ascertains they were at the main gate. Pelizar asks Tymerian for the use of her study since he needs a quiet place. I am playing Tymerian as very confident when dealing with business but quite shy with strangers on a personal level. After much hesitation (and Pelizar appearing very confident) she agrees. Pelizar uses detect magic to identify which page has explosive runes, avoids that page, and reads the book. The game got really slow here and we kind of meta-gamed the rest of the session. Pelizar and Vall decided to scribe from this spellbook but they needed 18 days to get all the spells they wanted. So, they rest of the party went to Verbobonc, sold what no one wanted, bought a few things for themsleves and the two wizards, and returned to Rastor. Next game session will probably be a little in Rastor (maybe with a little romance between Pelizar and Tymerian) before the party goes back to the CRM. I hope they change their mind and continue south. I was really looking forward to the Dwarven Temple. One thing I would like to add. The troll map in the yahoo group does not neccesarily work in your campaign. I had to reverse north and south in order to have it fit in mine (where Rastor is near Dorob Killithdawn). Unfortunately, I had to do this on the fly so the players think that the map was drawn wrong in the first place. Zag ig
Zagig Orc (12/14/02 3:45 pm) Reply	Re: The Bloody Swords (Campaign Log) Sorry it took so long to get this up. Had a birthday dinner last night and Xmas presents to buy, package and send away on the bus. Well, this was quite possibly the most enjoyable game session in a long time. First to recap the party: Elvowyn, elf scout/archer (killer with the bow) Darla, scout/two-weapon expert (kind of impulsive) Pelizar the Purple, wizard of elemental spells (loves the orbs from T&B) Jerrick, soldier (the only real front-liner) Vall, wizard of new experience (good with the mind spells, so far) The Bloody Swords (either theirs or ours) started the game session in Verbobonc, thankful for a short rest. The party contracted a few magic items made (or magic added to a magic item, in Elvowyn's case). Most of them spent the time waiting for them just relaxing. Elvowyn wanted to learn how to cook better while adventuring, however. However, a professional chef is not the person one should see about this kind of cooking, as Elvowyn soon found out. At the Adventurer's Guild, however, he was able to find a fellow adventurer who was skilled at open-air cooking and agreed to share his skills with Elvowyn. Both Vall and Pelizar, meanwhile, were inquiring about a spell that they had heard of that sped up scribing time. The Silver Consortium had the spell but one had to be a member before one could gain accesss to the spell. Pelizar, for reasons unknown, adamantly refused to join but asked Vall to buy a copy for him. Vall willingly paid the membership dues and the fee for two copies of the spell. He was admonished not to share the spell with anyone except those he implicitly trusted. After almost a week in Verbobonc, the group headed back to Rastor, anxious to continue deeper into the mines. I do not allow FR spells in my campaign unless they are researched as new spells. However, the scribing time for spells is, IMO, far too long. Therefore, I allowed my two wizards to purchase and learn the Amanuensis spell out of the FRCS, which basically "photocopies" a spell. I also ruled that they can take 10 on Spellcraft checks to prepare another wizard's spells. This cut scribing time in a dramatic way but I wanted to remove scribing as an obstacle. This may be changed in the future but we'll see how it goes. Back to our story. The party returned to Rastor on horse, having left the well-secured wagons at the inn. They were thankful for the input from one of the villagers that made them think to travel by horse and not wagon; their travel time was now 6 days instead of 13. While the majority of the party entered the inn, Pelizar decided to see some people in Rastor. The first person he went to visit was Tal Chammish. The previous night Pelizar had used up his entire spell selection with Arcane Mark (a purple "P" of course). He used those spells to start marking Tal's wagons with invisible Arcane Marks. Tal heard him outside after a minute and came outside to see what was going on. Pelizar, thinking fast, told Tal that he was looking at wagons to ship equipment to Verbobonc. Tal believed him and went back inside (Pelizar beat him on a Bluff check) but remained suspicious (not sure what he'll do next). After this Pelizar went to see Constable Jardeth. Jardeth took Pelizar to see Rerrid. Rerrid informed Pelizar that the investigation of Tal Chammish revealed nothing illegal. However, if the party found any new information, Rerrid was willing to look at it. Pelizar also inquired after the local rangers and managed to get Rerrid to see if one would meet with him at the inn. I figured that no one was going to rat about the Tambrosh. Also, I decided to base the rangers in the area on an old article I had written that added a number of role-play elements to the ranger class. I am currently working on adapting this to 3E. Since the rangers are in and out of Rastor, Rerrid and Jardeth have a pre-arranged location where they may leave a messge for them. Returning to our story, during supper the party chatted with the locals and learned that there were three leaders of Rastor. To date they had only known of two, Rerrid and Jardeth. The had never met the third, Thandain Deepdark. After dinner, Pelizar went to meet her. They talked for a short time and Pelizar came away with no suspicions. However, he did learn a little of her background as an adventurer. The next morning, during breakfast, a ranger showed up to see Pelizar, having received Rerrid's message already. He was invited to sit with the group and was able to reveal much information about the surrounding land. He told them of the pass that leads through the mountains from Rastor but is blocked by Dorob Killithdum. He told them of a party of elves that had travelled through here recently. The party mentions that they now suspect that Dorob Killithdum is connected to the CRM somehow (DM smacks head on wall). The ranger agrees to keep an eye on Dorob for them and, apart from the party, asks Elvowyn, who is also a ranger, to come to the next "moot." (a meeting of rangers held every 2 to 3 months). Thanks to Siobharek for the ideas that allowed me to flesh this out. The party of elves was the party that included Tenaris. I wanted to include this as the party was probably going to the Earth Temple next anyway. Pelizar then announced that he would not be going into the mines that day with the rest of the party as he had things to do. Everyone else decided that they were not going in without one of their wizards and that they would wait a day. This is where a tiny coment came back to haunt me. At one point I had made the comment that the innkeeper was doing just fine considering the amount of time that the party had spent there. Pelizar decided that it was time to buy or build a house. So, while most of the party hung around town, Pelizar went to Rerrid and asked him if any houses were for sale in town. He found out that most houses were one or two bedroom affairs, which was simply not large enough for him. He then sought out the local stonemason and asked for a house built. Unfortunately, the mason needed some kind of blueprints in order to do this. Pelizar is in the process of trying to figure out what he wants and then get blueprints done. Jerrick, meanwhile, decided to check out the orc village. Jerrick was met by a bunch of orcs, then by the orc leader herself. Considering that Jerrick seemed unarmed and unarmored (he had a Glove of Storing with a halberd and a Retractable Armor belt, though) the orcs were pleasant. Kreugna, the orc leader, spent the afternoon talking to Jerrick and showing him the village. Somewhere in there Jerrick asked her if the orcs could scout the area around the CRM and report what they find to him. Kreugna told him "no" flat out. She explained that the majority of the orcs were not warriors and that she did not want to put anyone in unnecessary risk. Besides, she did not know Jerrick that well. The visit to the orc camp was somewhat unexpected and I had to wing it here, although there wasn't much to it. I played the orc village as something like an Native American village you see in Westerns. Elvowyn, Darla, and Vall decide to check out the South Gate. Well, actually Elvowyn and Darla decide to check it out and Vall taged along. This is when they discover that the illusion that used to cover the path to the South Gate is now gone. A sign sits beside it saying "Use South Gate" with an arrow pointing towards the South Gate. They decide to check the Main Gate first. However, Vall doesn't sneak well so they leave him about 200 yards back. Darla and Elvowyn sneak up to the doors and pull on them slightly finding them locked or barred or something. Elvowyn then checks all the arrow slits, only able to see about 10 feet into them. This is enough to reveal two trogs at the north arrow slits, watching. Filing this information away, they head to the South Gate, again leaving Vall about 200 yards back. They sneak up to the doors, not realizing that no one is watching. Elvowyn again checks the arrow slits, finding nothing. He cracks open the door enough to poke his head in and and manages to see the sniper (natural 20 on Spot!! Amazing rolls for this guy tonight). He pulls his head back before the sniper gets a shot off, motions Darla away, and runs like hell back to where Vall is. Darla follows and everyone takes cover expecting an army to come out the doors. When nothing happens, they turn and return to Rastor. Well, that was the morning. After lunch, they all just kick back and wait for the next day. There is much discussion on what to do, however. I hoped that they would go to the Main Gate as I wasn't ready for the South Gate at all. Fortunately for me, they chose the Main Gate, mainly because they had said at the last game session that they wanted to hit the troglodytes. This post is running really long, I know. I'll stop here and post the rest of the game session (this is just the first half) on Thursday. Give everyone time to read this first and me to go see The Two Towers (three times). If you liked it, or have any questions, let me know. Zag ig Edit: For clarity. Edited by: Zagig at: 12/16/02 4:06:47 am
Infiniti2000 Here for a while (12/15/02 10:35 pm) Reply ezSupporter	Re: The Bloody Swords (Campaign Log) "If you liked it, or have any questions, let me know." One of the best things I like about this forum is the chance to read sessions logs like this on the same adventure I'm running. I love it, Zagig, keep posting! Sounds like a great session. I agree on the FR spells, I think they are unbalancing outside of an FRCS (more so than the splat books). However, if your players spend extra time/money, it offsets some of it. Of course, in getting that particular spell, it helps you, too. Minor point, I think you got the gate confused in the paragraph "...to the South Gate is now gone and a sign sits beside it saying 'Use South Gate'...", but no big deal. PS I heard a rumor that Zagig was a revised (two letters) form of Gygax, backwards, similar to Drawmij being Jim Ward. What sayeth the source?
Zagig Here for a while (12/16/02 4:04 am) Reply	Re: The Bloody Swords (Campaign Log) Thanks for the vote of confidence. The ego boost is definately nice once in a while. The spell was mostly for my benefit to cut down on time spent away from the adventure. I think you got the gate confused in the paragraph "...to the South Gate is now gone and a sign sits beside it saying 'Use South Gate'...", Nope, got it right. IMC, the road to the Main Gate is obvious and easy to find. About halfway to the Main Gate, another trail branches off towards the South Gate. This trail had been covered by an illusion which Elvowyn had seen through a couple game sessions ago. Since the party had destroyed the Main Gate a few times, the illusion had been removed and all traffic was being redirected to the South Gate, hence the sign. As for the name issue, I know the rumour. The proper spelling of my name is Zagyg. Zag yg
Siobharek Still here? Wow. (12/16/02 4:54 am) Reply	Re: The Bloody Swords (Campaign Log) I think it sounds like a really cool session. Hard to believe that it's the same campaign as the one described in your first post, so I must say that it seems you've really rallyed the campaign. Kudos. I'm glad you could use the Dorob Kilthduum angle. IMC, anyone possessed by the ghosts are killed as they are forced to bash themselves against the rocks of the place. It sounds a little out there, but it scared the bejeezus out of my crew. If you find that the party begins to waste too much energy on the D.K. factor, have Rerrid tell them that it has become clear to him that whoever took over the mines must have used the orc assault on Dorob Kilthduum as a cover for their invasion of the mines. I did that IMC, so now the players (as much as they think about it - which ain't a lot ) just see the Crater Ridge Mines as part of the established history of the area. And that's pretty neat. Siobharek ...it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.
ZansForCans Here for a while (12/19/02 10:32 pm) Reply	Re: The Bloody Swords (Campaign Log) I did a little searching for this Dorob Kilthduum connection, but couldn't find it. Did you lay out a connection to the ToAC in a post somewhere Siob? I saw numerous references to it in your BoB post on Verbobonc politics and read up on it in the Grayhawk Codex, but didn't see any deatils of the connection posted here. I'm intrigued Group Editing & Authoring Support flexible campaign management for the web info :: demo
Siobharek Still here? Wow. (12/20/02 12:13 am) Reply	Re: The Bloody Swords (Campaign Log) Well, in the Oerth Journals that I've mentioned a few times, Dorob Kilthduum is placed more or less smack-dab in the middle of where the Temple of All-Consumption is supposed to be, according to the RttToEE map. So... One lost dwarven city, Dorob Kilthduum, and one conquered dwarven mine, Stalagos. I had the Doomdreamers' strike against Stalagos coincide roughly with the orcs taking Dorob Kilthduum. That also helped me explain why Rerrid Hammersong and most of the other dwarves in Rastor don't remember too much about the mines' layout: They're fugitives from D.K., who were chased away from the mines when they sought sanctuary there. Now D.K. is haunted, as mentioned in the Oerth Journal. I ruled that whenever someone camps there, they will have to make a DC 25 Will save or begin throwing themselves at the rock face trying to get into the complex. That causes damage, of course, (1d4/rd) so eventually you will die. Besides it being absolutely true, it also makes for good if somewhat infrequent business for the halflings of Littleburrow, who make sure to point out that if you want to avoid spending the night near Dorob Kilthduum you've got to start off from Littleburrow at daybreak and oh look, sun's much too high now. Did we mention there's trout for dinner? Here, grab a fishing rod, have a pint, and sit by the creek and relax and catch some trout for us. I don't necessarily see a connection between D.K. and Stalagos. The Doomdreamers used the goblinoids and orcs - end of story. But naturally, D.K. or parts of it could be meshed into the adventure. Maybe there are underground passages linking the two... Siobharek ...it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.
ZansForCans Here for a while (12/20/02 11:31 am) Reply	Re: The Bloody Swords (Campaign Log) Wonderful stuff! Thanks for filling that in for me. I had only checked the Codex, not the Journals for that reference. Looks like I'll be doing some serious holiday reading. I'm just about to start fleshing out Rastor and the layout of the interesting bits near the ToAC, so this is great timing. Group Editing & Authoring Support flexible campaign management for the web info :: demo
Zagig Here for a while (12/22/02 6:37 pm) Reply	Re: The Bloody Swords (Campaign Log) Thanks, Sio. I have to give a lot of credit to the players, though. They have finally grabbed the bull by the horns and involved themselves in the adventure rather than just playing it. Thanks, also, for the D.K. info. It really makes the area more interesting. Here's the rest of the story. The next morning, the Bloody Swords wasted little time and headed out to the Main Gate. When they neared it, Vall, Pelizar and Jerrick stayed back a little and Darla and Elvowyn snuck up to the gate. Both of them pushed on the door to see if it would open. It wouldn't. They snuck back to the group and a discussion took place as to what to do. They decided to knock on the door and try to bluff their way in. Vall, Pelizar and Jerrick waited at the edge of the cave while Elvowyn knocked. A voice from inside told them to go to the South Gate. Elvowyn tried to bluff his way in and said that he was ordered to come here. The voice from inside responded and said that the door could not be opened. The party decided to force the door. It took Jerrick, Darla and Elvowyn about five times, but they finally managed to burst the door open. Miikolak had used stoneshape to block the door a little. She was trying to make it harder to get in but not impossible. The Earth Temple was trying to draw intruders in to them and a locked door only makes adventurers try harder to get in. There were two trogs at the north arrow slits, an earth mephit at the doorway to the connecting room, and two more trogs in the next room. Miikolak and her earth elemental were in Terrenygit's room. When the party let their presence be known, the earth mephit alerted Miikolak and then went to warn Uskathoth. While the party was trying to break in, the trogs and Miikolak were setting up in the north hall. The earth elemental was ordered to attack from the rear. Cautiously, the party moved down the hallway. Near the four-way intersection, they moved so as to protect against an attack from the common room (the one with double doors). Jerrick and Vall were nearest the north hall, Pelizar the east hall, Elvowyn the west and Darla in the middle. As the trogs had an action readied (or surprise, however you look at it they got a free attack), they threw their javelins at Jerrick and Vall but only managed one hit on Vall. Combat ensued. Elvowyn managed to quick shots first and took one trog down. Then Darla shot at one with her twin hand crossbows but only managed a flesh wound. This trog and Jerrick moved into melee with each other, but neither scored a hit. Pelizar then let loose the fireball, consuming every troglodyte in the hall except Miikolak, although she lost a large number of hit points. Fortunately for Miikolak, the earth elemental chose this time to appear at the back of the party and attack. It managed a solid blow to Pelizar with it's huge fist. Vall, noticing this dangerous creature behind him, sizzled the rock creature with a melf's acid arrow. Miikolak, being down a few hit points, quaffed her healing potion and moved towards the Earth Temple, hoping to get away before getting killed. Elvowyn, not worried about Miikolak, snapped two arrows to his bow and fired at the elemental. However, only one managed to injure the elemental. Then Darla moved into melee with the creature while hasting herself and struck with her handaxe and short sword. The elemental was now feeling in a dangerous position and was considering leaving. Jerrick, chasing Miikolak, moved towards her but could not move far enough to attack. Pelizar, still standing next to the elemental, decided that moving away was a good plan. He moved towards the double doors to the common room, expected an attack from that direction. The elemental hesitated for a second, then decided that it had to follow it's orders. It attacked Darla but her quick speed allowed her to avoid the blow. Vall then took out the elemental with four magic missiles and it crumbled into dust. Jerrick, meanwhile, was still dealing with Miikolak. She moved further towards the Earth Temple, but was not far enough away from him. Jerrick was close enough to charge and he did, scoring a huge blow that downed Miikolak. The battle was won with hardly an injury. The trogs were trying to draw the party farther into the Earth Temple where it would be easier to deal with them. Unfortunately, the party was more powerful and prepared than they anticipated. The reason there are five trogs and not four is that the DM added an extra one by mistake. Also, the one trog that moved up to attack instead of withdrawing was my mental error. Too excited about combat, I guess. The party stripped the bodies and collected all the valuable and possibly magical items. Pelizar then checked out the common room while Darla checked out Terrenygit's room and the former zombie room. Pelizar found nothing as those rooms were now bare. Darla found a burning skull that she recognized as belonging to Khiro, a former PC who was killed in the first attack on the Fire Bridge. This led to much theorizing about alliances between Earth and Fire. The party then continued north towards the Earth Temple. Khiro's burning skull is just a normal skull with continual flame on it. It was given to the Earth Temple, who leave it in Terrenygit's room, when the Earth Temple was placed in charge of the trolls, allies of the Fire Bridge, guarding the Main Gate. The party continued further into the Earth Temple. At the fork in passages, the whole party went left (having been in that direction briefly before). At the entry cave, the sigils carved on the walls hold their interest. None can translate them, although they know that the dwarven alphabet is used. Pelizar copies the words down, hoping to find someone who can translate them. The party then split. Elvowyn wanted to move up the stairs to the east. However, the rest of the group wanted to go down the stairs to the north. While everyone else went north, Elvowyn went east. Unfortunately, Elvowyn does not have any ability to see in the dark. He moves fifteen feet up the stairs and then pulls out his everburning ring (normal ring with continual flame on it). Swordmaster had already seen him but was waiting to see what Elvowyn would do. When Elvowyn pulled out the ring, Swordmaster attacked. Swordmaster pointed the sword at Elvowyn, spoke the command words (in Terran so Elvowyn doesn't know what they are), and let loose with the blast of rock. Unfortunately, Elvowyn managed to duck under the blast and it crashed against the wall behind him. This also served to alert the other members of the party (as well as Uskathoth) to the attack. Both moved towards the battle. Elvowyn then shot two arrows at the troglodyte, hitting him with one for a huge amount of damage. Swordmaster had to drink his healing potion. Then Uskathoth arrived beside Swordmaster at the same time that the party arrived behind Elvowyn. Elvowyn then let two more arrows loose at Swordmaster. One hit and one critical. Swordmaster is down. The rest of the party makes short work of Uskathoth (he doesn't even get his action before he's down). However, the battle isn't done yet. Greshta, invisible, acts and strikes at Vall from behind. Vall, somehow sensing something, is able to dodge at the last second. Elvowyn turns and, with one shot (another critical!!!) takes Greshta down. When the earth mephit (see last post) alerted Uskathoth, the earth mephit took his former position further into the Earth Temple. Uskathoth took Miikolak's normal position a little ways behind Swordmaster. Snearak ran to the Earth Temple with a bunch of trogs. They grabbed a sacrifice and called the xorn. Snearak ordered the xorn to attack any humanoid that does not bear the symbol of Earth. The party then spent a few minutes collecting loot and detecting for magic. When we return, it is likely that the xorn will attack them just as they get moving again. Work is going to be interfering with our game time for a little while so you won't see a new update for about a month. Feel free to post any comments. Zag ig